Roll Call: Ryan Budget Under Attack

“Facing last-minute resistance from members of his own party, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan will dive headfirst into turbulent water in releasing his fiscal 2013 budget today.”

“The Wisconsin Republican plans to mark up the resolution Wednesday, and he will need near-unified GOP support to pass it out of committee. But it remains unclear whether he has the votes.”

“With hours to go before the budget's rollout, hard-line conservatives spent Monday mounting an eleventh-hour charge against the proposed $1.028 trillion spending level and the amount of time that the plan would take to balance the budget, according to several GOP aides familiar with the situation.”

“‘I'm still not sure how this gets out of committee at [$1.028 trillion] with no balance for a quarter-century. I really don't,’ one aide said to a conservative Member.”

“The situation has the potential to end up much like the bungled transportation legislation, with leadership dropping a bill before rounding up the votes to pass it. In the Budget Committee, it would take only three disenfranchised Republicans to sink the bill if, as expected, all Democrats vote against it.”

“Tea-party-affiliated groups such as FreedomWorks sent a letter to House Republicans last week indicating that they would not support a budget that takes more than a decade to balance.”

“Dropping a budget that RSC members openly reject would be essentially daring them to kill it in committee, a move that would open them to attacks from Democrats, whom the GOP has long chided for not passing a budget.”